With the festive celebrations and New year now behind us, I
thought I would get myself sorted and get Part 2 of this post down!
There is so much I wanted to say so I intend to try to keep to the
point this time, I know I'm going off the point by explaining I want
to stay on the point...aaarrgghh!!
If you haven't already read part 1, please catch up with it
here.....
All the images (and there are quite a few!) in this post are from
the same wedding, this way it's easier to see the way we try to tell
a story. It shows a consistency and it also means I haven't just
picked our “best” images from a selection of weddings...there are more than we would normally blog for a wedding but I really wanted them to convey what it's actually quite difficult to express in writing, for me anyway!
In part 2, I'd really like to emphasise our approach and why we
think it's essential to the work we create. I'll scatter the images through out the post in little groups....
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In meetings with prospective wedding clients, they will often say
"oh we really love the ones where the person didn't know they
were being photographed"...or, when showing them samples of our
work, they will pick out documentary images and say how much they
love them. So I have tried to break down in my own mind why it is
people like these images.
I suggest it is because the subject is acting naturally, is not
camera aware, not posing and therefore appears relaxed. This is in
contrast to the more posed/ directed group shots which generally most
people just skip past when they are looking at image collections.
This is not to say that these posed and group shots are not
important because they are....at a wedding, there are family members
and friends that are often never together in one place apart from
these occasions, so it's important to get these groups of people
together.
We aim to make this process as efficient as possible and generally
takes no more that 15 mins. Also, because we are 2 shooters, we can
get 2 perspectives on the same group, something that our clients
love!
We shoot group shots with the minimum of fuss or direction and
certainly no specific posing! The portraits with a little more
input, but really have fun and make it a happy experience. You can
see that clearly, I think, in some of the portraits later on in this
post.....
Generally, the collection of images we show to clients will be
around 80% purely documentary images, about 10% posed group shots and
around 10% bride and groom portraits.
Here is an example of the same group shot from 2 different
viewpoints, data shows they were taken within seconds of each
other...guess which one the clients preferred?
It is very rare for us to have a client that says they want no
group shots at all..in fact, one couple did say this but on the day
changed their minds and asked for some to be done. Of course, this is
no problem, after all, it's their wedding and we are providing a
service, so we were happy to accommodate this last minute change of
mind. I often read of photographers who will dictate exactly what
will and won't happen at a wedding, photographically, because of
their vision or artistic integrity.
While I understand where this is coming from, I'm not sure how far
this can be pushed. In my opinion, couples generally book a
photographer based on one of, or both of, the following..
They like the style/ approach/ philosophy of the photographer and/
or they get on really well with them on a personal level.
A connection, or some chemistry between the couple and the
photographer/s is, in my opinion, absolutely essential and is central
for us. There is a huge investment by the couple in the photographer,
not only financially, but also in terms of trust. This trust
relationship is vital!
As wedding photographers, we are in the service industry, and we
provide a service to our clients which they are paying, sometimes a
lot, for. We try to explain as fully as we can the style of our
photography and how this impacts the images we produce.
There is a balance we try to strike between maintaining our
artistic and creative freedom while, at the same time, making sure
that the client is confident and relaxed about getting the style of
images they want to remember their day with.
When viewing samples of our work in the form of complete weddings,
they can see and appreciate our style. While this documentary
approach is not for everyone, at least every client we meet knows
exactly the style of wedding images we will produce.
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One of the things we love to do with our couples is a short
portrait session. These go really well and the couples LOVE them and
the images we create.
We use the times in the day where there is a natural break, say
after the meal but before the evening reception starts.
It gives the couple a nice little break from the intensity of the
day, we have a great laugh and make some gorgeous photos together.
Whilst there is some more structure and direction with these shots,
we do have a laugh....as you can see!
For me, the best back ground around is the sky...constantly
changing, often dramatic and, quite simply, there for the taking!
I have been know to go on about it, a little too much maybe
:-)....some of our couples even begin to tease me by constantly
referring to the sky and how dramatic it is! I don't mind the
ribbing, if we can use it to create beautiful images, we will!
Sometimes, even the groom gets inspired for a few photographs...
When it comes to the evening dancing and partying, we really want
to try to capture the atmosphere and also the really intimate moments
that happen fleetingly as the couple have their first dance. The
first thing to say here is that we
never pose or set up any of
the evening dancing images. At this point in the day, they really
just want to relax and have a good time dancing, the last thing we
want to do is interrupt that flow by posing and directing dance floor
photographs!
I see lots of first dance/ dancing images which all feature
statues. They are probably shot with on camera flash and the people
appear frozen. We use a combination of no flash at all and 2 off
camera strobes remotely triggered. . This gives a nice combination of
intimate ambient light images as the low light abilities of the D3s
are stunning, and some more dramatic almost moving images of the
dancing by dragging the shutter. I also like to try to make the
lights a feature of the photograph...some examples of the variety of
shots are below..some are from another wedding where there was a more
formal first dance...
So, hopefully, this article has given you all a small insight into
our philosophy and approach to photographing and documenting a
wedding.
I'm delighted to say that we become friends with the couples whose
weddings we shoot. On the day, when they look at Hazel or I, they
don't see "the photographer", they see Ian or Hazel. We
work very hard at developing this relationship as we firmly believe
it is fundamental to our approach and it allows us the freedom to
capture the emotion and story of the day as it unfolds.
We don't direct moments, we will not say "put your hand here"
or "just have a kiss" or anything else like that. We want
couples to relax, forget about the photographers and enjoy the
happiest of days. Even when we do our portraits, as you can see, we
have fun!
Hopefully the old saying will be true, rather than use a thousand
words, the images will say clearly what I'm struggling to write down.
Please feel free to share this post, ask any questions, disagree,
agree whatever...I'm not saying that we do it right, just this is the
way we do it, and we are passionate about "our way"!
Cheers.....